


Disquietude

by notebookthief



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: (mostly), Canon Compliant, F/M, Ghosts, Post-Canon, its not horror but its a little scary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 11:45:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18468286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notebookthief/pseuds/notebookthief
Summary: Yoosung takes MC on a date to a theme park, and it's all decorated for Halloween - but there's something creeping behind all the decals and streamers...Written for the Day 13 - Mystic Messenger Halloween zine!





	Disquietude

**Author's Note:**

> hello ! i finally get to post this piece i did last summer for the mysme halloween zine! i'd never written yoosung before so i was a little nervous but it was tons of fun. if you're reading this when it's posted, final sales are happening, so if you missed getting a copy you can do so here ==> https://mysmehalloweenzine.storenvy.com/ There's also accompanying artwork to go with this, which you can see in the zine!   
> thanks for reading !!

Yoosung likes to take you on what he calls “official dates”. Even though you hang out a lot at your respective homes - you often help him study with quizzes, and he likes to come over for game nights to de-stress - he still likes to do something out of the house with you as an extra special treat. Usually it’s something relatively simple and inexpensive like picnics or movie dates, but today you’ve dragged him to an amusement park. 

The chilly October air makes it a less popular date idea, especially since it’s during the week, but it means you don’t have to wait in nearly as many lines. The park is decked out in Halloween decorations, too - pumpkin-shaped lanterns strung from wires, skeleton decals on walls, garland and blow-up ghosts next to the towers at the entrance. Some of the rides have temporary Halloween signs up, with small changes to the names like “Hellevator” and “Potion Cups”. It’s more cute than scary, but the gray sky and lack of patrons make it feel just a little spookier. 

The two of you are just finishing your snack break. You’ve already spent a couple hours mostly around the arcade and carnival games, having failed at most of them (though Yoosung did manage to win you a cat stuffie that looks suspiciously like Elizabeth the third), and already you’re starting to tire from the wet chill in the air. You pop the last bit of strawberries and cream crepe into your mouth just as Yoosung is finishing his. 

“Is there another ride you want to go on after this??” he asks you as you chew. “We did a few of them already, but if we missed something we should do it.” He glances up at the sky, which looks like it could start to rain at any moment. You swallow your bite. 

“The wooden roller coaster,” you say excitedly, pointing it out to your right. You’ve ridden it before, when you were a kid - it’s old, and it looks it, and while logically you know that it’s very well maintained and safe, it still feels risky enough for a thrill. Yoosung looks in the direction you’re pointing in and pales. 

“Are you sure?” he asks, clearly trying to get out of it. “The humidity might affect the wood…” 

You nod eagerly. You do legitimately enjoy the ride, but part of the fun is teasing your boyfriend. “It’ll be fine,” you reassure him. “They take really good care of it. It’s just an illusion of danger.” 

He gives you a tight smile as the two of you stand up. “All right. One ride. It’ll be fine. Totally fine.” 

“Totally fine,” you parrot back to him cheerily, grabbing his hand. You toss your garbage on your way. 

The only wait you have is for the few other people waiting to get on before you - another couple and a family of four - and then you’re seated. You sit in the very back of the ride for maximum enjoyment. You can see the family heading to the front, and smile a little to yourself, remembering when that was your favourite spot. Yoosung settles in beside you nervously, not noticing your glee, instead testing the safety bar once it’s lowered. You give him a knowing look. 

“Do you want to hold Elizabeth the fourth?” you ask, holding out your cat stuffie. He half coughs, half laughs. 

“Is that what you named it?” he asks incredulously.

“Don’t you think it looks like her?” you say, holding it up to your face. “I think it’s very fitting.”

He gently takes it from your hands. “I guess you’re right. You should be careful that Seven doesn’t steal it from you.”

“It’s okay,” you say, lowering the bar over yourself as the attendant gets ready to start the ride, “I know you’ll protect me.”

He splutters and clutches the plushie close to him, just as the ride begins to move. You smile to yourself as you face forward, fingers buzzing with excitement.

Classic as it is, the ride begins with a steep hill. The clicks of your slow ascent are deafening, blocking any conversation you might have had. You can see that one of the children at the front of the ride already has her hands up, anticipating the drop, and you follow suit, stretching your fingers out. The ride gets slower the higher you go, until you reach the peak, and it stops. 

You expect it to go down after just a moment, but it stays at the top for a long minute. You glance around in confusion, wondering if there was a malfunction - you don’t remember it taking so long in the past. The wood beneath you creaks ominously, a harsh, damp breeze hitting you. You can see Yoosung’s wide eyes fill with fear, and you lower your arms to reach out to him, and then the ride drops with a loud groan. 

It’s faster than you remember, opposite of how your memories usually work. Your stomach hits the bar a little painfully as you lurch forward, the coaster careening down what feels like rickety, unstable wood. You can hear the kids in front of you screaming, but you can’t tell if they’re pleased. You whip through turns and loops so fast your eyes start to blur and tear up. For a moment you’re worried about the ride stopping, but after the last harsh corner you start to slow, and soon come to a normal, gentle stop where you started. The bars lift up, and you turn to find Yoosung blinking open his eyes, still clutching the stuffie. 

“It’s over?” he asks, turning to face you. You nod, and he smiles in relief, quickly getting out of the car. He helps you out and hands back the stuffed animal. Nobody mentions anything weird about the ride, so you don’t either, simply asking if he enjoyed it. 

“It was a little scary,” he admits. “I didn’t think it would be so abrupt. It felt like it was about to collapse.” 

“That’s just part of the ride,” you assure him, soothing the both of you with your words. “It’s completely safe.”

He shrugs non-committedly. “If you say so… It felt a little off from other roller coasters.”

You secretly agree with him, but don’t voice your concerns. A drop of water hits your nose, making you blink hard, and you look up to see that the sky has darkened. A few wet spots litter the concrete, sparse for now. 

“We should get out of here soon,” Yoosung remarks. A drop of water hits his eyebrow and slides down past his eye, into the corner of it, and he blinks it out like a tear. 

“One last ride?” you plead. “Then we can go.” 

He smiles patiently and links his pinky with yours as you walk. “What were you thinking of?” 

Reluctantly, you point at the Hellevator: a vertical tower where you shoot up and freefall down, your torso strapped in without a seat. Yoosung gulps, and you wince a little. 

“You don’t have to go on with me,” you assure him. 

He shakes his head, and clenches his opposite fist near his chest, as if to pump himself up. “No, I can do it. We’ll do that one, and then we can go home.” The last word has a hopeful little lilt to it, and you nod. 

“Yeah,” you agree, “I don’t want to be stuck in the rain. Just this last one.” 

You make your way over to the ride, swinging your arms between yourselves as you go. Just like the last one, there’s no line, just a few people strapping themselves in. You pass through into the ride area, store your stuff with the attendant, and go to settle yourselves in as well. 

You can’t hold his hand or anything, but you give Yoosung a reassuring smile, one that he returns, putting on a brave face. The attendant comes around and checks the straps and bars on all of you, making sure you’re safe. When she’s concluded that you’re good to go, she heads back to her little stand, and starts the ride. 

It begins gently, just like the roller coaster; you move up the tower at a decent, easy pace, not meant to scare. You swing your feet a little in anticipation. When you reach about three-quarters of the way to the top, the ride lurches and shudders, then continues until you reach the top and stop there. Same as the previous ride, you wait for the drop; but it doesn’t come. You hear some grumbling from the other people on the ride, and when you look down, straining your eyes, you can see the attendant struggling with several controls, none of them, seemingly, responding. You notice a couple other staff members making their way over from a distance. A pool of fear settles into your stomach. 

The ride groans again, like wind hitting a metal pipe. You instinctively grip the handles on your harness, trying to get a look at Yoosung and see if he’s okay, but you can’t see properly. 

You plummet. The scream ripped from you is taken by the harsh g-force, barely audible over the whipping air as you rush towards the ground. You feel like the ride has been untethered, no mechanisms holding it together, and for a brief moment you wonder if this is how you’ll die. Then the ride screeches and races upwards again, yanked up as if by a chain. It jerks you up and down several times, making you nauseous. Finally, the ride freezes in place, slamming you for a final time into your harness, and begins to descend at a slow pace, similar to your ascent. 

When you finally reach the bottom you’re too shaken to begin undoing your harness. Several staff members rush over to you and the other guests, helping you off and asking if you’re okay. You barely have the presence of mind to say you’re unharmed. When you’re fully off, you find Yoosung right in front of you, and you stumble into him. He looks a little green. 

“Are you all right?” he asks, panting a little. “I was so scared I thought I was gonna die…”

“I’m okay,” you say hollowly, clasping his hand. His palms are sweaty, but so are yours. “I just want to go home.” 

“Me too,” he agrees. You grab your things from the attendant’s stand. There’s a man there who apologizes and attempts to give you something - you think they’re coupons - as some compensation, but you both assure him that you just want to go home for the day. You clutch the stuffie to your chest as you make your way towards the entrance, very tightly holding hands with Yoosung and staying quiet.

When you’re about a hundred metres away, Yoosung begins to ask you what you’d like for dinner, but he’s cut off by a low, whispering wind that sounds… almost like a voice. You look around for it for a moment, but Yoosung’s hand on your shoulder makes you stop. 

“Sweetheart? You okay?” 

Shaking your head a little to clear it, you let your mouth fall open to take a deep breath. “Yeah. Sorry, I thought I heard something. What did you say?”

He gives you a concerned look, and you’re not sure if, when he parts his lips, it’s to repeat himself or worry over you. The words never leave him - a huge gust of wind blows, nearly pushing you over with the force of it, and the towers standing at the front entrance collapse with it, crumbling into patchwork pieces of rubble. While you remain upwind, it kicks up enough dust that you’re both left coughing into your elbows, covering your mouths with your sleeves. When the air clears enough for you to see, you find the entrance completely blocked, and you grip Yoosung’s hand in panic. 

He turns to you with a wild, scared expression, the bravery slipping from him; you can see it when the worst-case scenarios start to run through his head. You hold onto him tightly, and the grimace he gives you in return is just enough to comfort you, if only a little bit. 

A murmur rises as the dust settles, other patrons left in the same panicky state. You glance around; several staff members are congregated together, speaking to each other with heads inclined, while a few stragglers on their way are flagged down but upset guests. 

“What do you think’s gonna happen?” you ask Yoosung, but you say it too quietly for him to hear. You see one of the staff members break away from the group, sprinting off somewhere. Shortly after, an announcement crackles through the loudspeakers littered throughout the park. Over the sudden quiet, it’s clear. 

“Attention guests,” it sounds. “Due to unforeseen circumstances and apparent structural damage, we will be closing the park indefinitely. The police and paramedics have been called. Please make your way towards to arcade section and follow staff’s instructions in order to exit the park. We sincerely apologize. Thank you for your cooperation.” 

You tug at Yoosung’s hand, moving towards where you’ve been directed. “Come on,” you say shakily, giving him a weak smile. “We said we were going home, right?” 

He nods, mouth thin and worried, and follows you. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks, glancing over you again. “We should get a medic to look at you just in case.” 

“I’m fine,” you reassure him. The area is beginning to get congested the closer you get to the arcade. “Nothing hit me. I just hope it’s nothing serious…” 

You take a moment, letting Yoosung lead you, to text the RFA what’s happened. If Jumin has a way of finding out - by which you mean, of course, if Jaehee can find out - what caused this, it might give you some peace of mind. And if they see what happened on the news, you don’t want them to worry about your safety as little as possible. 

You sign off from the messenger once you’re fully in the arcade section, saying a quick goodbye to Zen and V (the only two in the chatroom at the time), and stick your phone in your pocket. You look up at Yoosung to relay the conversation, but just like earlier, a breeze blows by your ear, whispering, making you trail off. This time, though, it sounds far off, as if coming from deeper in the arcade, and more distinct. You can’t quite make out what the sound is, but it sounds stuttered and choked. 

“Everything okay?” Yoosung asks, and you realize you were just staring at him dumbly with your mouth open. You snap it shut and nod. 

“Yeah. Zen and V are pretty worried, but they understood we’re not harmed,” you say. You hear the sound again, this time clearer, louder. More distinct. “Did you hear that?” 

“Hear what?” Yoosung asks. He looks around, as if he’d be able to see the source of the noise. 

“It sounds like a kid crying,” you say. “See, there it is again.” 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if one was,” he says, and squeezes your hand. “They’re probably just stressed.” 

“No,” you say, “that’s not what I mean. It sounds like it’s coming from inside.” You see something light up around the corner, and break away from the group. “I wanna check it out, make sure no one got lost.”

“Wait, MC,” Yoosung says, trying not to let go of your hand, but you slip away from him and out of the crowd, sneakily heading towards the games. You can hear the sound a little better now that you’re away from people. “We should tell a staff member, not wander off like this.”

You round the corner, instinctively knowing that Yoosung will follow. “They’ve got their hands full, it’ll be bad if they miss someone because of it.” The light you saw from the crowd is shut off now, but it looks like it was one of the games. Another one flickers down the hall. 

“They’ll have the police to sweep the area, no one is going to get missed,” he assures you. “Let’s go back before we get stuck here.” 

You sigh, and turn around to look at him. “Can’t you hear it?” you ask. The sound is so clear away from people. “I don’t want a little kid to be left alone like that for hours.” 

He bites his lip and looks away. “I - I don’t hear it.” 

You tilt your head in confusion, and as if on cue, one of the games behind him falls over, making a loud crash. You both jump in response, taking a step towards each other on impulse. 

“Okay,” he says. “That’s fine. We can just - step over it. And go back. Let’s go back.” 

The game opposite of the first one falls as well, hitting the edge and stacking on top. You grab onto each other. 

“Maybe don’t risk it?” you ask, and he nods in response. “Let’s leave this way -”

A formless light flickers behind the collapsed systems, more eerie than the lights of the games that are turning on and off, trying to stay active. At first it’s just a pale mist, barely visible, but then it takes the shape of a small person. Yoosung is shaking, and you grip onto him to steady you both. It seems like there a glitch patterns and numbers on the thing, and it’s a little hunched. Eventually you can start to make out features on its face, and you try to look closer, but Yoosung grips your arm hard and drags you down the hall, sprinting as fast as he can. You hear another system crash behind you, but you don’t look back. 

The hallway you’re in leads back to the plaza, and you run a fair distance until you slow down. You’re closer to where you started earlier today, eating snacks. It’s raining hard now, though, quickly soaking the two of you, increasing your already blatant shivering. You take a moment to catch your breath, checking to see that nothing followed you. 

“Okay,” you manage to say, half-laughing, “so horror movies were right all along. Do not try to find or help children, especially in weird disaster situations. Don’t trust children.”

Yoosung makes a garbled sound that could be laughter or crying. A gust of wind whips your wet hair into your faces, obscuring your eyesight a little. You suck in the damp air gratefully, letting it calm you. 

“We can loop back the way we were supposed to go originally,” Yoosung says. 

“I promise I won’t run off this time,” you assure him, and he looks a little relieved. 

The two of you start making your way back to the designated exit, keeping an eye out for anything unusual. The rain obscures a lot, and it quickly turns from refreshing to freezing, completely drenching you and turning you into shivering messes. You stay silent, so you don’t miss anything. 

You hear a loud groan, and look up to see the wooden roller coaster you rode earlier. A particularly strong gust of wind hits it, and it groans again, and you swear you see it tilt. You pause where you stand. 

Yoosung stops when you do, and follows your gaze. “Maybe it’s just an effect from the weather?” he says doubtfully. “You said it’s very well maintained.” 

“Yeah,” you say. You hear a loud crack. “Let’s run though.” 

“Yeah,” he agrees, and you take off. The ride tilts towards you, this time distinctly noticeable, falling towards you from the top down. You run as fast you can to the exit, stumbling over uneven pavement and garbage. When the ride hits the ground you’re far enough away to be safe, but the debris comes flying towards you, hitting you with small chunks of wood and screws. You trip as a piece hits you, knees hitting the asphalt hard, but then you’re hauled up just as fast with a loud, desperate, “Come on!” 

You make it to the arcade area again, where you were told to meet to exit the park. You slow to a brisk walk, gasping for breath, and you spare a glance over your shoulder to see the damage. There’s wood and metal everywhere, and big pieces of the structure are piled on top of each other. In the mess, you can just make out a blue figure, waving at you and holding a stuffed animal. Before you can say anything, your arm is grabbed, the hand sliding over your sleeve from the rain, and pulled to the exit. 

There are still a couple staff members at the exit, and they urgently guide you out to the paramedics, where a few other people are talking to personnel. They look like they just have a couple scratches, and the medics immediately turn to the two of you to check your scrapes, removing large splinters that had lodged themselves in your skin during the fall. You see a group talking to a reporter, a large camera facing them, as well as a couple people giving statements to the police. You flex your fingers, trying to keep them warm, and realize something. 

“Yoosung,” you say, grasping at him. “Yoosung, he had - that thing, it had - it took Elizabeth the fourth. It took it. I-” 

“Shhh,” he says, the exhaustion heavy in his voice. “We can get as many new Elizabeth’s later. I don’t want to think about it right now.” He wraps his arm around you and brings your head into his chest, and the paramedics wrap a big shock blanket around the both of you. You sniffle into his sweater, not minding the wetness as your wrap your arms around his middle, afraid to let go. 


End file.
